The Antonio Treatment: A Magical Makeover

Every day, The Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood strives to improve each child's life by instilling self-esteem, courage, and positive values through educational programs. Their youth come to The Club to receive tutoring, homework assistance, computer training sports, social recreation, education, mentoring, arts & crafts and so much more. They gain confidence by developing a sense of usefulness, competence and belonging. The boys and girls of the Hollywood location of the Boys and Girls club have to face the dangers of the world everyday, whether it be shootings in their neighborhoods, drug sales on the streets or just the general overwhelm of Hollywood itself, so it is important for them to have the club as a safe space for them to just be kids. Antonio's mission is to create a space that fosters a child's creativity and artistic expression while addressing the Club's issues of storage and functionality for the art room space. Antonio's design is to simplify the space without clutter and make use of the natural light that spills in through 3 large windows. He builds an ''art bar'' along the windows so the kids/artists can see their creations in natural sunlight. Facing the windows also allows for better concentration and inspiration. Plus this art bar creates an additional workspace for the kids to create art with plenty of tools & supplies in arms reach. Antonio takes away the boring grey industrial floor and creates a floor that has color & inspires creativity. The design of the floor will also maintain a great look no matter how many paint stains or scratches it has on it. Antonio creates a gallery wall to display the children's art. Not only is the wall clean & simple but the artwork is also framed properly and lit by track lighting. This allows the work to be proudly displayed. There is now plenty of storage in large cabinets & cubbies that are custom build and they hold all the art supplies the club could ever need. Lastly, Antonio creates an inspiration wall that holds hanging clouds with wood cutout ducks that Antonio has the kids paint and design to their liking. This wall expresses who they are as individuals and budding artists.